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Starfire's

#21
I have owned several starfires and so far the best combination of tone and playing well (and in tune) has been a SFII reissue with darkstars--which is what I have now.

I had an old one with one hagstrom neck pu that was super muddy live but recorded well--I stupidly sold that one.

I also had a reissue with the stock pu's that was really cool. Didn't have the bite of the darkstars/hagstroms, but had a very cool thick, but clear, old-school tone. It sat in a mix really well in spite of how dull it could sometimes sound in it's own. I used that one a bunch and also stupidly sold it--the reissue I have now essentially replaced that one, and I think it's a keeper.
 
#22
My first Starfire was a 90,s reissue, I really liked the sound of just the neck PU soloed using a pick, fingerstyle it was not terribly interesting. I believe the RI,s had seymour duncan PU,s . I would like to give the Darkstar a try but I would want to play a bass with these before I shell out the cash for some, they,re not exactly cheap.
 
#23
the darkstars are really fantastic--but i do agree with you, the old guild humbuckers are nice as well and a often dogged for no reason. the pu's in the reissue are even mellower, but still work great. the darkstars have a more full-range, open, and gritty (when you dig in) sound, but still have a lot of lowend and retain that hollowbody thing.
 
#25
Yes...in that the hollowbody sound is so different innately to a solidbody. Darkstars sound awesome in a bass I have called a Lakland Decade....they also sound good in one of my Starfires. But yes, they do sound like Darkstars regardless, that's for sure. Clear, open, expressive. A little furry when played hard, but barely so....and it's a good thing, anyway.

JMJ
 
#26
I'm jealous of all you guys with Starfires. I only have one hollowbody, a Jay Turser Beatle bass copy, and I want another one. I just don't want to pay what a Starfire usually costs ;)
 
#29
Just wanted to expand on this. I really love my Dearmond now (Still need to get some flats for it) but its so much fun to play and it looks so cool.

But the output is quite low on it and I'm not sure if I should Darkstar it or just add a clean boost (I'm leaning clean boost as it won't effect the character of the bass).

Also does anyone know where I can buy replacement knobs for it?

Thanks
 
#30
Here's one of mine sporting a pair of Rick Turner's early trapezoid single coil pickups. The electronics are essentially what's found in a rack mounted Alembic Superfilter but this modification pre-dates that unit by a few years. Circa '72.

1802.jpg


Here's a look under the hood:

Untitled19.jpg


Those things spiral wrapped in copper foil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) are actually duplicates of the top mounted pickups acting as hum-canceling dummy coils.

BTW. That was Rick Turner who called the Guild buckers "Pedestrian". We used to just call them "ho-humbuckers" at the old Guild Forum so I'm somewhat responsible for them getting a bad wrap. I appreciate that people are finding unique sounds with them so take it with a grain of salt. If you like them you are not by any means alone.
 
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#32
TaySte_2000 said:
I've just found a DeArmond RI Starfire and I'm wondering if you've played one and how you thought it compared to either your original or RI Guild Starfire.

Could be my first hollowbody this ;)

I take it yours is strung with flats?

Many Thanks
Click to expand...

I have a DeArmond and used to have the RI Guild too... I found the DeArmond better... The stock pickups for the RI are not good, and the Korean DeArmond has better pickups... The DeArmond has neck binding, the Guild does not. The Guild has tuning posts that are so big they get in the way of the A string... the Dearmond does not.

I actually switched the Dearmond Pickups into my Guild when I took it on tour! I wanted the look of the Guild... it had that trans red finish... and was mahogany... but the sound and playability of the DeArmond.

I sold the Guild back to the guy I bought it from - that was our pre-arranged deal. He tried to sell it back to me awhile later. Guess he had the same problem... looks will only get ya so far. :bassist:

I've always wondered how much 'better' the Darkstar pickups are to the DeArmonds... output seems higher... but how much many more nuances of sound is it capturing? I've always been really happy with the DeArmond pickups. Great for chording.

Fred is there anyway you can supply a matched volume comparison of the DeArmond vs. Darkstars?
 
#35
Another very cool hollowbody that's relatively rare is the Mosrite Combo Bass. I don't see me ever parting with mine. It's got a weird shape and weight balance is not that great but it's got great big sounding pickups and a cool slim short scale neck. It's somewhat unique in that it's actually a carved out body, meaning it was a solid piece of wood but the inside was routed out and the back was glued on. The wood as a result is thicker compared to most hollowbodies. It's got a good thump to it but can almost sound like a cross between a hollow and solid body. When they do rarely pop up on ebay they still sell pretty cheap, especially compared to solid Mosrites.
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#37
jonpopu said:
I played one of these at a Richmond, VA Sam Ash. Thought they had overpriced it and have been scouring ebay for one. What do they normaly go for when you see them? I loved the tone.
Click to expand...

I bought mine about a year and a half ago for $700 with a non-original case and cosmetically it's far from perfect (dings, chips, finish cracks). As far as I can remember I've only seen one more on ebay since then and it was in an original case and in much better shape and I want to say it sold for somewhere between $1000-1100. There's a Joe Maphis bass on ebay right now (i think it's still there). They're the same thing as the Combo just without the F-hole and in an ugly (imo) natural finish.
 
#38
sonicvi said:
I bought mine about a year and a half ago for $700 with a non-original case and cosmetically it's far from perfect (dings, chips, finish cracks). As far as I can remember I've only seen one more on ebay since then and it was in an original case and in much better shape and I want to say it sold for somewhere between $1000-1100. There's a Joe Maphis bass on ebay right now (i think it's still there). They're the same thing as the Combo just without the F-hole and in an ugly (imo) natural finish.
Click to expand...

They might have been a little high then. This one had player wear to through to the wood by the neck pickup, some dings, and was in need of a fret job, but was priced at $950 I think. I think that Joe Maphis looks pretty sweet :)
Edit: I've also been looking at the Univox solidbody copy of the ventures bass as an affordable alternative, but didn't know how they compared.
 
#39
To update this I'm loving my cherry Dearmond Starfire and I recently strung it with flats 45-105 from Overwater and it's tuned DGCF and it just sounds fantastic really huge so good infact I've found another one I'm going to buy but this one is in that brown colour.

It's got 2 more holes drilled for a mod the owner did series/parallel and coil split I'll probably add the series/parallel back in and use the other one as a producer switch (see interviews with Leland Sklar)

Thanks for putting me on to these basses Justin
 
#40
That is so great! Glad it's working so well. Speaking of de-tuning, I think Starfires sound great like that; kinda cool with a super low tuning like CFBflatEflat, then use a capo to shorten the scale even more. HUGE.

And I love that you'd put a producer switch in there...classic.

JMJ
 

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